The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1887-12-22
okoLosA H.. De-. no. -.

TO say that ] had no intention Of
criticising the management Of the
State Normal nor any Of the Facul-
~, some Of them whom ! know
personally, and have the greatest
respect for them, and cannot see
why Mississippian construed my
remarks as such, unless in compli-
ance with an old adage, "that a
drowning man will catch at a
straw"
II the trustees are so well salts
fed as Mississippian would have
you believe, they have become so
since September. And how Miss
issippian knows the Legislature
viii be satisfied is shrouded in mys-
terry 10 me.
Mississippian assebts that there
we're l07 pupils enrolled who had
advanced as far as Ratio in Robin
sons Practical Arithmetic. Ad-
hitting that to be true. Will Mis-
sissippian please inform me if it is
true, that they complete the course
set forth in his letter, in the re-
quired time, two years, viz: AIge-
bra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Sur
voying and Navigation, Grammar,
Rhetoric, Moral and Natural Philos-
ophy, Chemistry and everything
except classics?
As to my referring to things
about the school that facts and fig
ures dispute l call Mississippian's
attention TO the House Journal Of
1856, page "a, to the message Of
Governor Lowry, which says:
"The State Normal school at
Holly Springs, is reported by the
Board Of Trustees to be in a salts
factory condition. The average
attendance during the past two
years being about l4O. The at
tendance appears to be broken and
irregular, aud only a small per
cent Of the pupils complete the
course prescribed Since the or
ganization Of the school sixteen
years ago, only 35 pupils have
graduated. l do not feel at liberty
to make the same recommendation
touching this institute until more
information is obtained"
We extract from the Joint COM
mittee appointed to investigate the
workings of the State Normal at
Holly Springs (see House Journal
page 482,l viz.
"The State Normal school situ-
uated about one mile from the
court house in Holly Springs, was
established about sixteen wears
ago, since which time it has grad |
uatcd 35 students. There were
10 pupils in attendance the day we
visited the school. The school /
house is an old brick building con
structed for a residence, but now
sadly out ofrepair, situated on
bald hill surrounded by deep gull
lies. The fences are in a dilapi-
dated condition and everything
connected with the property pre-
sents the appearance of ruin and /
decay. (Also see House Journal
page 4S3.) This school which was
established for the purpose of edu-
eating and instructing colored
students in the art of teaching, is
sadly defective in that prime OBJ
ject. There is not a single normal
feature connected with the institu-
ton. Normal methods are entire
ly ignored, as the Superintendent
Of Marshall county. distinguish
ed educator and accomplished
scholar, says, "it is a high school
Of very low grade" There is no
normal course Of Study prescribed,
and no lectures delivered by the
teachers to the pupils as to the best
method Of imparting knowledge
they have acquired TO others. Pu-
pills who have been attending there
for a number Of years have applied
g the Superintendent of Educa-
ton Of that county for third
grade certificate as teacher and
have been rejected on the ground
Of iDcanacifv wban fbovr sborId